Home
by boldly
Summary: Because Devil May Cry really was home, and even more so with them waiting for him to come back.


Guilty pleasure with this one .. I love these three. It kind of played off of a currently unfinished RP with **Ruby Nightseyes **and **So Said the Gramaphone**, except in that, Lady was in the middle. I must admit, the idea of a Nero sammich makes me really, really happy. Also, cuddling. I need it.

Dedicated with so much love to those mentioned above, because my Dante belongs to both of you so completely, I don't think he even belongs to himself anymore. Which is, indeed, saying something.

Standard disclaimers, yadda yadda. And if there are any typos, I'll come back to fix them eventually. I typed this one up rather quickly, and I'm too lazy to proofread.

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The shop was _quiet._ That was the first thing he noticed when he stepped inside. The second was that it was _clean_. He grinned a little. _Lady must have been here_.

Bracing Rebellion carefully in the corner by the pool table, he dropped both jacket and guns (almost as carefully) onto the surface of his desk and made his way to the kitchen. Pulling the refrigerator door open found him staring at a full stock of food, of both the junk and healthy variety – an assortment of lunch meat, cheese and a loaf of bread, sofa and bottled water. His favorite beer. A handful of green apples were tucked into the bottom drawer. Those were decidedly for Nero, and Dante knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that if he were to open the freezer, there would be pizza for him. His grin deepened. _Lady __**has**__ been here._

The question now was where was she? And the kid, for that matter …

Heavy-booted feet carried him up worn stairs, dragging a bit more slowly than he usually would. He'd been gone for a week, and only when he deigned to stand in one place for longer than five seconds did it really start to sink in just how tired he was. Hell, he knew he wasn't a teenager anymore, but _damn_ … these missions he'd been taking on recently were either getting a little too tedious, or he was getting old.

_Fat fuckin' chance._

Eyes briefly scanning the hallway once he reached the top of the stairs, he noticed the bedroom door was closed – a common phenomenon in and of itself, but when it seemed the rest of the place was empty … He crossed the hall, pushed it open with a muffled creak and poked his head inside.

There was a large lump in the very middle of the bed. Well, two small lumps, really, no more than a tangle of limbs and a mess of dark and pale hair. Lady lay half-sprawled across Nero's chest, her head tucked neatly beneath his chin while the kid himself had both arms wrapped rather soundly around her small frame, nose buried in her hair. Dante stood there for the few moments it took to let that grin slip back across his lips, a fondness to the light shining in ice-blue eyes that had yet to be seen by anyone other than the two curled up in bed.

Probably never would be, either.

He began shedding clothing, kicking boots off and shoving them half out of the way, crawling in next to them on Nero's left side once he was down to jeans and nothing else. Lips brushed over the curve of Lady's cheek, the bridge of her nose as one arm slipped beneath the younger's neck, shifting until he could lean comfortably against his shoulder, free hand slipping to splay almost possessively at the small of a (decidedly) small back, almost able to count the ridges of vertebrae up and down her spine. She stirred briefly, one eye cracking open and settling on the soft curve of his mouth, and she _ purred_.

"Finally home?" she murmured sleepily, stretching minutely beneath the press of his hand, a contented little sigh crawling up from the back of her throat. He nodded. Her purr deepened. "Good … missed you …"

Nero grumbled at the commotion even those soft whispers brought, blue eyes slitting open and catching the flash of the older's pale hair out of the corner of his peripheral vision. "Took you long enough," he mumbled, the sheer lack of the usual roughness in his voice the only indication that he wasn't as annoyed as he pretended to be. His body twisted as Lady gently pulled away from him, content to curl around his back when he turned to bury his face in Dante's chest, inhaling deeply and looping Devil Bringer's arm loosely around his waist. Dante leaned down, nosed affectionately at his temple. "Missed you too, kid."

He was rewarded with a blunt shove to his stomach.

A small chuckle drifted free as the arm beneath Nero's shoulders bent just a little, fingers sifting through dark hair, tickling over the back of Lady's neck. She mumbled something in the back of her throat, only faintly audible and reached for the hand now settled on her hip, dragged it up and nibbled his fingertips. His chuckle deepened to a low, rumbling purr. Nero shoved again at his stomach.

"Try'n to sleep, here …" Even still, he pushed a little closer, fitting into the hollow of his throat just as easily as Lady had fit into his own moments before.

Dante nipped at the shell of his ear, and Lady settled completely. "Sorry, kiddo."

They were quiet, then. Still just a tangle of limbs and a mess of pale and dark hair, the sound of three separate heartbeats, of three separate contented sighs the only thing that further broke the silence. The old clock downstairs rang the hour, but he didn't pay attention.

He was _ home_, and it felt _damn _good.


End file.
